Hope in Our Community: From the Desk of Our CEO

Summer is almost here. Many businesses slow down over the summer months, and many individuals and families plan for vacations and summer fun. Here at House of Hope we actually ramp up for these months. Due to the seasonality that still exists in our local economy, and kids missing out on free and reduced breakfast and lunch when schools are closed, we generally see a spike in our pantry, food bank, and financial assistance services. The unpredictability of hurricane season adds another variable to our planning. So we do our best to stockpile nonperishable food items in our main warehouse to be ready to handle the summer spike for our community.

A wonderful lead-in to our summer preparation is the National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive. This annual event is the largest one day food drive in the nation. This is a way that our community can help. On Saturday May 9th please leave a bag or bags of nonperishable foods next to your mailbox. Your letter carrier will pick them up and bring them to their post office base where House of Hope volunteers will be waiting to unload them and fill bins of food to come back to our warehouse. All of the food collected in Martin County, stays in Martin County to assist food insecure neighbors through our four food pantries and our local partner agencies.

Even with the wide range of programs and services we offer at House of Hope, food insecurity is still by far the number one reason that new clients come through our doors. Last year House of Hope distributed over 1.6 million pounds of food across the region to individuals and partners, all at no cost to the recipient, touching over 40,000 lives. Our generous community is a great resource for much of our distributed food. If you are part of a neighborhood, business, or any group that may be interested in conducting a food drive to support our mission, we welcome your participation any time of the year. If you want to learn more about our mission, or if you or someone you know may need our services, please visit us at www.hohmartin for more information.

Thank you for growing hope in our community